Just to keep everybody in the loop on the filament extruder project, the heavens opened yesterday and we got about 75 mm of rain so I stayed in for Sunday rather than trekking out to my brother-in-law's workshop in Carmel Valley. I also found myself facing the old maxim that says that the first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time and the last 10% takes 90% of the time.
I have to cut a new piston alignment block, buy a rat-tailed file to sort out a bolt connection hole in the frame that slipped while I was drilling it with the drill press and finally make another expedition to the hardware store to get a few drills and threading taps that I hadn't bought before.
A trek to the electronics supply shop across the peninsula to buy some ceramic wire nuts, a circuit fuse holder, an indicator light, a length of power cord and a plug is also on today's schedule. This thing has a lot of bits.
I will also be buying a half-inch threading tap to see if it is feasable to use a brass plumbing plug for the extruder die. That will mean that I can screw into the extruder block rather than brazing it in as per the plans. If that works I can swap out extruder dies instead of having to make a new block and heater cartridge for each time I want to make a different diameter filament. After having drilled one of those blocks I am not anxious to have to make them as a regular occupation with the WWII era Navy drill press that I have.
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